In the game of baseball, a batter or hitter stands at home plate and attempts to swing a bat in an effort to impact a ball that has been thrown by a pitcher. This pitcher can throw the ball at any speed and will attempt to throw the ball over home plate or “the hitting zone” at a height determined by the batter's physical size without the hitter striking the ball. A pitcher uses two techniques in order to throw the ball past the hitter; the first is pitch location. By varying the pitch location, the pitcher can get a batter to swing at a pitch not easily hit because of the pitch location. The second technique is speed. By altering the speed of a pitched ball, the pitcher can get a batter to swing early or late thereby missing impact as a ball crosses the hitting zone. Many tools have been used to train hitters on how to hit a pitched baseball and coaches use these tools in training players. Such tools include hitting tees, balls on sticks, hitting nets, balls that drop from tubes, and balls that shoot from machines. These devices attempt to help the hitter develop swing speed, feel of hitting a ball, hand-eye coordination, and a host of other motor skills necessary to impact a ball. One of the key pitching techniques used by pitchers is rarely addressed by any of the training devices on the market. Changing pitch speed is a critical technique used by pitchers and is very difficult to practice by the batter.
Swing timing is critical to becoming a good baseball hitter. A batter must train to produce a compact or quick swing. By developing a compact or quick swing, the batter has more time to discern if a pitch is in a good location and what speed it is traveling. Since a pitched ball traveling at 100 mph will take less than one-half (½) of a second to cover the distance between a pitcher's mound and home plate, swing time is critical to becoming a good hitter. A batter must also train to wait on a pitched ball. After a batter has developed a compact swing he must also train to wait. A pitcher will throw a series of pitches designed to fool a batter into swinging early or late. A common sequence would be to give a batter a series of fast pitches then throw a slow pitch to entice the batter to swing early. Batters must train themselves to recognize the pitch and wait until the correct moment to swing.
Other training techniques such as hitting machines attempt to address the timing issue but fall short of a realistic baseball experience because they are repetitious. A hitting machine will allow the user to change the speed of a pitched ball but only after a considerable amount of setup and test pitches. In an actual baseball game, a successful pitcher will mix pitches and change pitch speed from pitch to pitch, not allowing the batter to adjust and predict the timing of the next pitch. Baseball coaches will often times not want their batters to hit off of pitching machines because the batter will start timing the machine and create a swing that is tuned to make contact with a ball pitched at a particular speed. This creates a batter that is easily fooled by off-speed and changing pitch speeds. Advanced pitching machines that quickly change speeds and locations are very costly and large therefore not an option for coaches at the local ball field.
Hitting tees, another popular tool used by every baseball coach, are positioned in front of the batter and simply provide for positioning a ball on top of a post. The idea is for a batter to work on their bat speed and the feel of a good swing. Unfortunately this tool does little to help with swing speed and timing issues inherent in an actual game of baseball and is best used just for the mechanics of the baseball swing. This tool, although valuable in one aspect of hitting, does little to help with timing.
Coaches have ultimately resorted to live pitching because only game situations can create a good practice environment. Live pitching is probably the best method of training but unfortunately is not a practical training method. The typical practice session on a baseball field consists of a coach pitching to a particular batter while eight other players stand around waiting their turn to hit. Combine this with the unfortunate reality that every pitch is not pitched in an accurate location and inevitably batters start swinging at bad pitches, a bad habit.